St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1887-06-09

mony so clear that even the Hon. Rev
erdy johnson, the attorney for the de-
PENDANTS, said:-
81 have listened with unmixed hor-
ror to some of the testimony which has
been brought before you. The out
RACES proved are shocking to human
ity; they admit of neither excuse nor
justification they violate every obi
CATION which law and nature impose
upon men; they show that the parties
engaged were brutes, insensible to the
| obligation of humanity and religion"
Some convictions were had and some
punishment inflicted, but, upon the
promise that this system of terror and
crime would not be renewed, the pris-
oners were in due time pardoned
This was not the end of it. Gen.
Grant was reelected, and soon after,
crimes and violence were renewed
against republicans, both white and
black, in all the cotton states. In 1875
the House of Representatives had be-
come democratic, and in the same year,
what is known as the Mississippi plan
was adopted, and the republican vote
of that state was absolutely suppressed.
And again in the presidential election
of 1876 the Offenses were so revolving
as to justify the returning boards in
several states, in excluding the votes
of number of counties, parishes and
districts. Since 1875 the republican
party did not possess the power to pass
any law for the protection of life or
property in the South, and the demo-
cratic party would not. 1t can be truly
said that every atrOcity, every political
crime, violence or wrong in the South,
was committed by democrats, and the
democratic party uniformly refused to
examine, prevent or punish in any case
any of these crimes.
In this way, and by crimes so afro
ciOus, the second rebellion of the demo-
cratic party is success. Republican
ism has been stamped out in the South.
Organized and disciplined force, with
social Ostracism, prevent in many
states all free discussion, and all re-
monstrance from white republicans,
while the freedmen are held in baser
subsection by the prejudice of race and
by the want of arms and organization,
the Inheritance of slavery. This con-
ditiOn of affairs is now hopefully chang
ing. The time has come, when in
many of the southern states, and es-
pecially in counties where a majority
of the population is white, these wrongs
and Outrages can no longer be inflicted +,
and the time will come when even in
the black belt of the South, the intelli-
gence, education and organization of
the people will enable them to main
tain their rights.
The last portion of the address is
taken up with other questions in which
Mr.. Sherman claims tibet "the immedi
ate result of the confederate ascend
ancy is to be struggle to break down
our industrial system" He continued {:
They now propose to reduce the du-
ties on articles that we can and do now
produce, and thus bring our skilled az
tisans into competition with foreign
labor that will inevitably reduce the
price of domestic labor. The farmer
with wool duty free must either kill
his sheep or reduce the price of his
wool, and so with every article of do
mestic production. But even on this
policy they cannot agree. With eXclu-
sive power over revenue bills they can
agree upon no proposition for the re-
duction of taxes, while surplus revenue
drawn from the life blood of the peO-
pie accumulates in the treasury. But
in the end the confederate idea will, as
usual, prevail in that party.
And so with the education of the
masses of the people. Wherever the
republicans are in power free schools,
as a matter of course, are open to all
children, free of cost, and the same
opportunities for education are open to
the children of the poor and rich alike,
without money and without price.
When the startling evidences of litter
acy in the South were disclosed by the
census of 1880, a measure was twice
introduced and passed by a republican
Senate to appropriate large sums of
money from the national treasury to
be distributed according to the num-
Der of illiterate persons in the several
states. When these measures were
sent to a democratic House they were
promptly smOthered. According to
the confederate idea they were uncOn-
stitutional. They found no power in
the constitution for the education of
children. Perhaps a CLEAN of intelli-
gence informed them that democracy
and ignorance go hand in hand to-
gether, and this was a conspiracy
against the democratic party of the
future.
So also with internal improvements.
Our country is bounded by great oceans
open to all the world, but with imper-
feet harbors, and is cut by vast rivers,
the highways for the cheapest possible
transportation, with bars and falls and
snags that prevented or impeded their
use. 1t has been the policy of the re-
publican party, during every Congress
when it had the power, to appropriate
money from the national treasury to
remove these obstacles to commerce,
and to open these highways to the free
and untaxed use of the people. The
democratic party has also been opposed
more or less, to this policy, but great
works were in progress and by the
common consent of both parties, Con-
gress, at it's last session passed bill in
the usual form to provide for the most
important works. 1t was sent in am
pie time to the president for his APP
prevail, but he had been so busy in
reading and vetOing pension bills to
Union soldiers that he had no time to
read the river and harbOr bill. SO
this great measure of internal improve
ment was defeated, and numberless
unfinished works are delayed and 9TH
ers destroyed by the pocket veto of "a
democratic president. L tell you a
common saying that the president
L